Foxtrot: a movie review by Hila Tsor
I’ve never had a movie make me feel in that same way Foxtrot had. I begun crying 10 minutes into the film, and my tears kept rolling right through till the end.
I’m not a particularly sensitive movie watcher, nor am I a public crier – I can usually brave a sad film. However, director Samuel Maoz’s brilliant cinematography, linked with the amazing acting, had made my heart thump heavily against my chest throughout.
Maoz’s complex modern tragedy follows an Israeli parents’ worst nightmares once sending their child off to the IDF at the tender age of 18.
Everything was raw – and real. Michael Feldman, played by Lior Ashkenazi, and Dafna Feldman, played by Sarah Adler, made me feel their direct emotions. Their pain was my pain, and it drilled so intensely and heavily into me that I was suffocated and dizzied by their story, their sadness, their loss. Their suffering felt so real, and I was lost to it.
The sounds of the film were intense, beating strongly and loudly, drawing you into the scene with no escape.
There was such a twisted beauty to the film – chaotic horror, and the relief is short-lived, with beautiful camera angles, beautiful acting… What happens after the news, what do you do with the pain, how does one go on and continue? This film explores tough themes, and it’s a tough one to watch.
This film is definitely one to see if you want to feel a whirlwind of emotions and become consumed inside a dark narrative. It is not for the faint hearted. The themes explored are dark, traumatic, and the way the filming is done is so wonderfully intense.
Truly a masterpiece, my heart is still aching, my stomach in knots.
